According to the 2010 Progress Report on the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology to the 82nd Texas State Legislature, Educator Preparation and Development in relation to the Plan was described in the following manner:
"Ongoing, sustained, high-quality professional development is essential to prepare teachers to meet the needs of their students by increasing student engagement and learning. Technology plays a major role in providing Texas students with the skills necessary to succeed as 21st Century learners.(Texas Education Agency)"
As described this ongoing, sustained, high-quality professional development is something that districts across the state are striving for. Yet when looking at STAR chart reports for the last three years in the state, the area of Educator Preparation and Development is by far the category lagging the furthest behind. In my own campus the ratings for this category actually decreased from 2009 to 2010. This is an area that seems problematic for schools and districts state-wide, and yet it is also the area that can have the most far reaching impacts.
In terms of national trends, one organization attempts to collect data on state technology reports and analyze them for trends over time, SETDA, the State Educational Technology Directors Association, produces trends reports every few years. While SETDA focuses mostly on areas where grant monies are spent by states on of the trends they noted was that, "Enhanced Capacity Building and Professional Learning Opportunities Ready Educators for Effective Technology Integration."(2009) It noted that when professional development was geared towards building the capacity of teachers to integrate technology into lessons and instruction rather than simply tossing new technology hardware and software at educators the integration of technology was far more successful and beneficial. This may, indeed be the issue with technology professional development for states and districts that are struggling.
Educators must be given transferable technology skills as opposed to those that are merely program specific. Educators who are successful at technology integration have not necessarily memorized exactly how every new technology they come in contact with works. They have a set of technology skills and problem-solving abilities that are transferable and therefore applicable in multiple technology situations. It is these skills that build the capacity for educators to successfully integrate other types of technology. It is these basic technology skills and critical thinking that must be given to educators who are unfamiliar with them in professional development that is meaningful and transferable. Then, when new technologies or applications are introduced educators will have the basic technology skills necessary to transfer these technologies successfully into their classroom, without learning each individual application from scratch.
Texas Education Agency (2010)2010 Progress Report on the Long Range Plan for
Technology 2006-2020: A Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5082&menu_id=2147483665
SETDA (2009) National Trends Report: Executive Summary. http://www.setda.org/web/guest/2009nationaltrendsreport
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